Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 1st May 2026 - With former Great Britain swimmer Brian Brinkley MBE

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The PCR Sports Show - Friday 1st May 2026 - With former Great Britain swimmer Brian Brinkley MBE · The PCR Sports Show

0:16
Welcome to PCR Sports. Well good evening at
0:19
Peterborough and welcome along to the PCR Sports Show.
0:22
Once again we're live on PCR FM 103.2 on DAB and online with me,
0:29
Nige, Nilesh and Dipam. And as always, this is the place
0:33
we shine a light on the people, the clubs and the stories that
0:37
make sports such a huge part of life in our city.
0:40
Welcome to the start of another sporting weekend.
0:44
And tonight we've got a very special guest in the studio.
0:47
He's an Olympian, he's Commonwealth and world
0:50
medallist, represented Great Britain in swimming on the
0:53
biggest stage and played a huge role in shaping swimming right
0:57
here in Peterborough. I'm delighted to say I'm joined
0:59
by Brian Brinkley, MBE. Brian, welcome to PCRFM.
1:03
Thank. You very much for inviting me
1:06
and hello to everybody. It's brilliant to have you here.
1:08
Thank you very much. We're going to start as usual,
1:11
though, by popping over to Nilesh this week for the
1:15
headlines. Cheers Nigel, thank you very
1:17
much and let's start with some really good success for the Posh
1:22
women. They completed their unbeaten
1:24
National Midlands Division One league season in superb style
1:28
with A7 nil win over Stourbridge at Pyms Park.
1:31
The Invincibles won 20 and drew two of their 22 Midlands
1:35
Division One matches to win the title by eight points.
1:39
They are likely to be competing in the Northern Premier Division
1:43
next season. Top scorer Jess Rousseau
1:46
completed a 6 minute hat trick to get Posh up and running in
1:49
the first half and later added a fourth goal in front of a bumper
1:53
crowd in excess of 400 who got to see the team lift the trophy
1:57
after the game. In the big news last week as
2:01
well, the London Marathon and Warrington jogger Henry Jarvis
2:04
was the local star turn at the London Marathon on Sunday,
2:07
finishing in 400th place for the time of two hours 35 minutes and
2:11
19 seconds. Jarvis achieved the rare feat of
2:15
running the second-half of a marathon faster than he did the
2:18
first half. He went through halfway in one
2:20
hour 1820, running the 2nd 13 miles over a minute quicker.
2:26
Jarvis put his foot down with about 8 miles to go, starting
2:31
his quickest section of the race from the point at which many
2:34
runners fear hitting the wall. Yaxley provided almost half the
2:39
local club runners in action in London with an impressive tally
2:42
of 14 completing the race. Darren Hillier led the Yaxley
2:47
squad home, finishing in a time of two hours 4632.
2:52
Hillier also paced it well, going through the 2nd halfway in
2:56
one hour 22 and only slowing marginally in the second-half of
3:01
the race. Craig Bradley was the second
3:03
fastest Yaxley man and he also went round in under 3 hours,
3:08
crossing the line in two hours 56 minutes and 6 seconds.
3:12
Claire Pearcy was the speediest of the Yaxley ladies, finishing
3:16
as the 125th over 50 in a time of three hours, 32 minutes and
3:21
49 seconds. Pearcy also paced it
3:24
beautifully, only dropping a couple of minutes in the last 13
3:28
miles. Zeon Denver of Thorny finished
3:32
in three hours 2436 and Laura Fountain was the quickest
3:35
Bushfield runner with a time of four hours 11 minutes and 52
3:40
seconds. In Cricket News and Peterborough
3:44
Town open their competitive Sunday season with two N Ants
3:47
T20 Championship fixtures at Geddington and then Loddington
3:51
and Moseley. Town will again be captained by
3:55
David Clark and have replaced one left arm seamer in
3:58
Hayatilla, Niyazi with another in Jaskaran Singh who has moved
4:02
across N Ants from Kettering Town.
4:05
Town were maddingly inconsistent last season and will rely
4:08
heavily on big guns Josh Smith and Nick Green in order to mount
4:12
a Northants Premier Division title challenge.
4:14
After finishing runners up last season, Smith was comfortably
4:18
the highest run scorer in the top flight.
4:21
The Premier Division season starts on Saturday May the 23rd
4:25
after clubs after the clubs have played three weeks of T20
4:29
cricket. Town were losing semi finalists
4:32
in the short form competition last season.
4:35
The Cams and Hunts leagues start also on Saturday while Ramsey
4:39
host Horsford in the top class E Anglia Premier League.
4:44
Beds and Hunts Women's are through to the second round of
4:47
the National County Cup after a narrow 4 run win against
4:51
Lincolnshire Women. The FA Cup of Cricket also saw
4:54
first round matches played last weekend and after their win at
4:58
Dunstable Town CC they will now play Tier 2 Northants Women in
5:03
round two on Sunday May the 17th.
5:06
Holly Reader was top scored with 36 in Beds and Hunts T20 score
5:12
of 134 seven. In other football news,
5:18
Peterborough Sports Bosch Michael Gash believes his club
5:21
can make an instant return to the National League.
5:23
NA four year stay at Step 2 level formally came to an end
5:28
with a creditable 2 to draw away at Hereford last Saturday.
5:32
Sports did well to bounce back after bounce back from A8 nil
5:37
walloping at works up the previous weekend to take to make
5:41
a team battling hard against relegation themselves sweat on
5:45
the outcome. It took a goal in the final 10
5:47
minutes for Hereford in front of a near 4 1/2 thousand crowd to
5:50
gain the point ultimately kept them up.
5:54
Snooker and Luke Simmons and Simon Coulson defeated Colin
5:58
Mitchell and Jason Bowles 4 nil in the final to lift the Legend
6:02
Snooker Team Cup and claim the 550 LB top prize at the city's
6:07
Broadway club on Sunday. Having lost to the runners up in
6:11
their opening Group B match before easing through in second
6:14
place on eight points, they survived a major scare in their
6:17
last four clash with former champion Christian Willips and
6:21
local Graham Bradford squeezing past them on the squeezing past
6:26
them on the final black in the deciding double S before
6:29
completing A memorable victory. And in some cycling news,
6:34
Peterborough Cycling Club played the team prize in round two of
6:39
the Northampton and District Cycling Association series.
6:43
Starman Paul Pardo took the individual honors after setting
6:47
a new course record for the 10 mile race in a time of 22
6:51
minutes and 14 seconds. The race started outside
6:55
Caldicott and then climbed up and three Gretton down to
6:58
Harringworth and back to Caldicott.
7:00
Mark Tomlinson got the City Club off to a strong start with a
7:04
time of 25 minutes and 17 seconds for 11th and then Jamie
7:08
Murray came in with 2345 for 4th place.
7:13
He was only two seconds off the podium and those are your
7:17
headlines, but obviously there's been some news at Peterborough
7:19
Sports in the last hour or so. There has, yeah, there has.
7:23
Michael Gash apparently left the club, ads player and manager.
7:27
So we don't know the detail around that yet, but yeah, I
7:31
think there's that's the first of many changes that you're
7:35
going to hear about in the coming months at Peterborough
7:38
Sports. Yeah, sadly validation has that
7:40
impact, doesn't it, Whether it be from a managerial perspective
7:43
but also from a playing perspective.
7:45
And that squad will no doubt be trimmed and also added to to
7:50
ensure that they can potentially compete back at that level and
7:53
perhaps fight for honours to get back to National League N level.
7:57
Absolutely, yeah. And I think, I think the
8:00
everybody wanted a bit of a reset.
8:03
So it looks like that's the that's the first decision.
8:05
I think you'll see a lot of them following now.
8:07
And of course, just the, the sheer number of players that
8:09
were on the on the books last year meant, meant that that was
8:14
always going to happen anyway. So yeah, exciting times.
8:17
I think everybody's coming to terms with the fact that they're
8:20
relegated being the Southern League Central next season.
8:22
That's not confirmed yet, but is is very, very likely.
8:26
So we'll see what happens down at Spalding on Monday evening, I
8:31
think isn't it with the yeah, that could be a sports against
8:37
Spalding if they're not successful, but lots of other
8:40
local teams for sports to play next year as well.
8:42
And then, you know, if there ever was a silver lining for
8:45
anybody getting relegated in, in football, for example, in this
8:49
instance, there's going to be more local derbies or certainly
8:51
more local matches where crowds could potentially increase.
8:54
And the away attendances will certainly benefit from on that
8:57
as well. Yeah, absolutely.
8:58
I think once everybody gets over the initial disappointment and
9:01
it and it always a disappointing relegation, isn't it?
9:04
But once everybody gets over that, I think it's it's going to
9:07
be a great season for sports next season and we'll be there
9:09
again watching them through it. Thank you so much, Nilesh.
9:14
They're the headlines this week. We're going to have the short
9:17
break now. Welcome back.
9:18
And we've got Brian Brinkley MBE in the studio to talk all about
9:23
swimming. You're listening to PCR sports.
9:37
Welcome back then and like I say, this evening we've got
9:40
Brian Brinkley in this studio with us.
9:41
Really, really exciting. This hours going to fly by.
9:44
We've got so much to talk about, Brian.
9:47
Welcome again. Let's start right at the
9:49
beginning, shall we? For listeners who might know the
9:51
name but not the full story, how did a young swimmer from
9:55
Peterborough end up at the Olympics?
9:59
My last year at primary school I went to Saint Augustine's
10:04
primary school when it was down Wharf Rd.
10:07
We they entered me in the one width breaststroke competition
10:10
in the Lido. I think they also entered me in
10:14
restaurant style in the small pool.
10:16
I did not do very well in that. In the main pool I beat a local
10:21
champion, I think David Walker. He was a chairman's son, his dad
10:25
was a policeman and so on that I've actually found the
10:30
certificate. I've still got the certificate.
10:31
Mums are fantastic. My mum was brilliant at storage
10:36
and then a bit later on it was all in the press and got talking
10:42
apparently down the swimming club about somebody beating
10:44
David who was going to be the next big thing and a lady called
10:48
her Helen Orpress is now Helen NI.
10:52
I've talked to Helen the other day, said to my sister Anne.
10:57
They went to the County grammar school together.
10:59
Is that your brother? Bring him down to the club.
11:01
We'll have a look at him if he wants to.
11:04
A bit of I'm in an R and I think go, not that week but the week
11:07
after. I went down on Friday night and
11:09
I had a trial. Helen looked after me, which you
11:14
can't remember. We said very sad and then I went
11:17
home and my mum and dad said do you want to do it or not?
11:19
I said, well I'm already doing quite a lot but if you if you
11:22
think, yeah, I can do it, yeah, why not?
11:25
So I used to go down Friday night and then then a couple of
11:28
swimming guards went. It was OK I'm not a winner but I
11:32
tried hard and from there it just progressed.
11:37
I was invited to swim at the indoor pool in stand ground
11:41
school for 340 minute sessions, 7 till 9:00 at night.
11:47
So I went along there, swam of week one I was in session one,
11:51
week two I was in session 2 and by week three I was in the final
11:55
session. I'll be, I'll be coming up to
11:58
12, yeah, 12 that year because my birthday is December and by,
12:04
by the following summer I was up with the big boys, a gentleman
12:09
called David Cook, Richard Rawlings.
12:12
The Rawlings family were very involved at that time.
12:15
The the two brothers, Richard, Elizabeth and Margaret, and
12:20
there was another one, Jane and Michael, they were all involved
12:24
in swimming in some way, shape or form.
12:26
So I, I progressed down there quite a lot and eventually I got
12:29
to 14 or 15. I started to do a bit better and
12:35
my father approached A gentleman called Neville Cross.
12:39
He was from South Africa. He was a coaching part time in
12:43
Northampton and asking me if I'm good enough, will you take it on
12:48
And he said yes. And coming up 16 I had a, a
12:53
Lambretta, my my aunt. I told we travelled all over the
12:56
county overland to Corby, Kettering Corby for the horrible
13:02
swimming pool that that was there.
13:03
Sorry so probably caught me but this is all pre goggles.
13:08
So we used to go swimming there and our eyes the next morning
13:10
were like like beach roots. It was awful and it all stuck
13:14
together so you had to you but my mum had to warm my eyes up to
13:19
be able to get the eyelashes to release from the crap that was
13:23
in there. I did quite well there and and
13:27
at 16 I was doing an awful lot better.
13:30
I was, what's the word? I was just at district level.
13:35
Then I won a couple of county things, junior under 16 and 16
13:41
and under. Now I, I made it across there to
13:45
the Foxier Glacier Mints Asian competition at 16.
13:48
And no, don't laugh, it was the sweets.
13:51
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking.
13:53
It was I was in the heat one, one of three and I came the
13:56
third but that carried on swimming away and it was first
14:03
time I really swim long course. I swam at the Lido but long
14:07
course indoor it was at Coventry and I quite liked it and I also
14:11
was good then 1516 I was still very good footballer and I was
14:17
also quite good at rugby. I was also reasonably good at
14:19
basketball. So I'm doing all of these and
14:22
eventually push comes to the shelf.
14:24
Dad, the mum said, sat me down and said, well, if you can do
14:27
one, which one are you going to do?
14:29
And the end of the day was on Saturday, was rugby or football
14:33
in the morning, football or rugby in the afternoon.
14:35
That's why I'm at night. And she said no, you've got to
14:37
pick 1. So I eventually pick swimming.
14:40
I played football for the school.
14:42
Somebody decided my left leg was a kicking box and I ended up
14:46
with bruise all the way from my big toe all the way up to the
14:49
groin. And I think I took six weeks off
14:53
school because I she couldn't walk on it.
14:56
And I'm left foot, left footed by the way I I was a meeting in
14:59
a sandwich of three people, the two full backs and the centre
15:03
half. The goalkeeper got as well.
15:05
Earlier I did play football at the school again, but my my love
15:10
of it had gone. So given given your success in
15:13
swimming then, have you ever looked back and wished you'd
15:16
wondered? Maybe not wished that you'd gone
15:18
off at a separate tangent. Yes, I, yes, I think I would.
15:22
I mean I had trials at 15 go down the West Ham.
15:25
I never went because it was then I got injured and I never, never
15:29
wanted to go again. And then no.
15:32
So I started, I started swimming, started to pick up
15:34
quite well. At 17 I broke through that
15:40
winter I was invited across to Bedford to train with Charlie
15:44
Wilson, with Bedford Maternions. So I'm training one night a week
15:48
and then after 2, two or three weeks I'm training across there
15:51
six days a week, Monday to Friday plus Sunday morning, 2
15:55
and half hour Sunday morning. That was a shock to my system
16:00
and then I was doing swimming garlics across here and
16:03
eventually I moved from Peterborough to Bedford to
16:07
Maldonians. That became my base club.
16:12
The guys here were all very good.
16:13
They could see that. There's a gentleman called Derek
16:16
Cole. I I tell this story because I
16:19
believe Derek. Unfortunately he's just passed
16:21
away after an illness. He's 90 odd.
16:25
He just passed away after Easter.
16:27
And we you bid for various events at the county and we bid
16:33
for the mile. So I dive in and swim this mile,
16:37
1650 yards. It wasn't a mile at 7060.
16:40
It was equivalent of the the metric mile.
16:44
OK, yeah. So I go in and swim the two guys
16:47
doing the full start rope after we went through drop the rope in
16:51
the water and the eggs went too far away and we're on the we're
16:56
coming back after about 40 seconds and he jumped in fully
17:00
clothed, no change of clothes, pulled the rope across and the
17:04
guy also we go guy met of mine called Barry Prime and I beat
17:08
Barry. I did the national time and I
17:10
went to national so I also did a fly time at Coventry fast enough
17:15
to swim there. So 2 events up to Blackpool for
17:17
a week with my parents in flat. Really enjoyed it, really enjoy
17:23
every minute of it. And I didn't place in the fly.
17:28
I still remember my time was 66.3.
17:30
I remember it clearly. But then I placed, I made the
17:34
made the freestyle final and I, I swam 181816 in the heat and I
17:42
swam 1812 in the final. I can remember it well.
17:45
Guy there called Mark Treffers, there's a guy called John Mills,
17:50
he came third and the Martin Woodruff, who was a gold
17:54
medalist and to the fly from 68, came second.
17:59
Martin wore swimming goggles for the first time in that race.
18:04
That was 1970. Now everybody takes swimming
18:07
goggles idea. So I did that and I started to
18:10
be recognized that next winter. That was 19177171 was the first
18:15
national Short course championships and I won two
18:18
events 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle and my life
18:22
accelerated. Took me my first international
18:26
was in Dortmund and I it was it was incredible.
18:31
I ended up doing 6 events and thoroughly enjoyed it.
18:34
I've never never been out the country before, neither my dad
18:38
or my mum. Strangely enough, that took off
18:41
and then the following year we went, had the opportunity to
18:44
going up to York for a training scheme, which is 11 sessions a
18:49
week, 5 mornings, 5,000,000 by by the way, I'm still doing
18:52
mornings with my aunt at Stangran College three days a
18:56
week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So I went up there to New York,
19:00
stayed up there. My brother-in-law married Anne,
19:06
the girl that invited got me involved in swimming and they
19:10
had to get married on a Tuesday. Everybody's going to hate this
19:13
one. He, he told me this the other
19:15
day. He hated me at the time.
19:17
He had to get married on Tuesday because I came down on Tuesday
19:20
to go to the wedding. On Wednesday, I'd go down to
19:22
Crystal Palace to swim in the Olympic trials.
19:26
Guess where he had his honeymoon was at?
19:30
Crystal Palace, supposedly swim down there.
19:33
But Peter is, he's always been fantastic for me.
19:38
I mean, I only found out how much he thought I'd been
19:42
undersold by other people. I did that.
19:46
My career internationally went through to 70.
19:49
I'm sorry. I then qualified for the Olympic
19:51
Games in 72. 72, yeah. We go on a training camp in
19:55
Southampton, some of the lads go out, I didn't, I wasn't a great
20:01
goer outer and you know some of the lads got out.
20:04
We go up to Coventry for a long ghost bit of the training and on
20:09
the day of our picture in our uniforms.
20:13
We go downstairs into the the common room at to Coventry,
20:16
right next to the, I don't know what it is, Polytechnic in the
20:19
student accommodation. We're there and there were loads
20:22
of police, all our manager and whatever, and three of the lands
20:26
were dismissed from the team for having having marijuana.
20:31
Wow. So two of those were on my relay
20:34
team, which was interesting. And then we went on to, by the
20:41
way, I had a superb trials, by the way, absolutely superb
20:44
trials. Went on to Montreal.
20:48
We swam, we didn't swim that well.
20:50
The only medalist was David Wilke.
20:54
I made final in in 400 freestyle and came 6th.
20:58
I should have final. Did the 200 fly?
21:00
I didn't. I came 10th.
21:03
It looks like that still hurts. No, no, no, no, no, no.
21:10
My first race was against Mark Smits.
21:11
That was my first race. And he he, he was looking at
21:15
preceding heats, going out on the close circuit television and
21:18
he they show all the split times and all that sort of thing.
21:20
So that he he was just bantering away to to a fellow American
21:25
before she, he went and swam and he said he's gone out a bit slow
21:30
enough. 61 six was my PB. The guy who was talking about
21:35
went out 61 five. I thought, bloody hell, that's
21:38
faster than my PB. I went out in 60.69.
21:43
I got down the third length OK, but halfway down the last length
21:47
I was sucking diesel badly and my mum and dad saw me.
21:52
And then my mum gave me a strategy to think about about
21:57
toilets because my mum was a cleaner all her life.
22:01
My dad worked at London Brick, so it's hard to explain to
22:06
people your parents give you simple instructions.
22:09
And from that point onwards we made final in 4 by 200 and
22:14
freezer relay. I then carried on training 73.
22:17
I got to go America, went across to Santa Clara, did a bit of
22:21
training out there, a competition out there. 73 then
22:25
was the first World Championships in Belgrade.
22:29
I finaled into the fly and missed the medal by .1.
22:34
So it happens. And I made finals in other,
22:37
other events, a couple of other events as well.
22:39
Didn't, didn't medal at that time.
22:41
David medaled, I think he won the 200 breast strike medal in
22:44
the 100. And then 74 was Commonwealth
22:48
Games. They found, it's hard to explain
22:53
this one. I was doing some weight training
22:56
where I worked in an hour off, You know, you get bars out, you
22:59
go training. I've got a wind scapula on my
23:02
right side and it looked peculiar.
23:05
And they said you need to get that sorted.
23:07
Saw a doctor, saw somebody else who got me tested at the Royal
23:11
Free Hospital. Like apparently I had a, a viral
23:14
infection in 73 and I must have been something around the polio
23:18
virus because I've lost some nerve nerving in my shoulder.
23:24
So that's that. And then went then in 74 from
23:28
there did swim, swam OK at the common games, got 6 medals.
23:33
I would say I was at Birmingham when Tom Dean broke my record
23:38
because I had 6 medals at Commonwealth Games, was the most
23:42
in any one games by an Englishman.
23:45
OK, so that lasted 50 years so I'm quite happy about that.
23:48
And then I went to well, the rest of it well, we swam well.
23:53
Next year went to Olympic Games. Well, we'll cut you off there.
23:56
That's a nice place just to cut off and go for another eye
23:58
break. And then we'll talk about the
24:00
we'll talk about the Olympics, the important ones when we come
24:03
back. So we'll just pop for a quick
24:05
short break. We're back with Brian just after
24:08
these. You're listening to PCR sports.
24:27
Welcome back then to the PCR Sports show.
24:30
If you in addition sorry to listening to us on a Friday, you
24:33
can catch us throughout the week on our social media channels.
24:36
Just search up PCR sports on Facebook X and Instagram.
24:40
And we also have a YouTube channel where you can watch
24:43
interviews with more Peterborough sporting
24:45
personalities. This week on YouTube we're
24:47
featuring David Clarke as Peterborough Town Cricket Club
24:50
embark on a brand new season. And next week I'll be with Steve
24:54
Phillips, manager of Peterborough Sports Under 15
24:57
girls who have got a cup final in Newmarket on Wednesday night.
25:01
So we'll be with them. But back to this evening where
25:03
we have Brian Brinkley MBE in the studio and we've been
25:07
talking about his career in swimming and we've got up to
25:12
just short of those Olympics in 76 in Montreal.
25:15
Then where you got the medal. Pick the story up there.
25:19
Well, I will say that the year before we got invited to go out
25:24
with Mission Viejo, later Doris, which is a team in California,
25:29
to go out the training camp in Hawaii, which was absolutely
25:32
outstanding. I knew I'd got an MBE because
25:37
you get a letter beforehand. You're not allowed to tell
25:39
anybody. I was out there when they
25:41
announced it. I got picked up after morning
25:44
session and thrown in the pool on New Year's Day.
25:46
I know it's from where. And then when I came back they
25:50
were so interested in what it, what the what, what do I do,
25:55
what blah, blah. I said I don't know at the
25:56
present moment. I've got to go get it first and
25:59
went and got it. My mum and dad were made-up as
26:03
they, they always were. No, then we, I should also say
26:06
72, my mum and dad went abroad for the one and only time.
26:12
Russell Plummer, Evening Telegraph organised them to go
26:15
with Ford, donated car Grenard drove them to Munich, watched me
26:20
swim when they came home. I am ever grateful for Evening
26:23
Telegraph to doing that and for Ford for sharing the opportunity
26:27
for my parents to come. I will say that the other thing
26:29
I'll say is I went to Saint Augustine's, also went to Alton
26:32
Longfield Comprehensive School. Just to let you know, I also
26:36
donated in 76 when I came back, my Maple tree, because all from
26:40
Canada. They gave you a Maple tree to do
26:43
with. I don't know what to do with it.
26:45
Let's go. And yeah, 7076 was a strange.
26:49
Yeah, I was swimming really well, did trials, did I clean
26:54
them? I was training through the
26:55
trials. So of the five, four days, five
26:59
days there, five days there, I did nearly 60 odd 1000 meters
27:04
training as well as warming up, swimming hard.
27:09
I also trained. So in between the the morning
27:11
peace and the evening final, I did a training session and
27:15
people said well, well, I'd already done the qualifying
27:18
times. I wanted to do people.
27:21
I've got to be careful. I weren't, we weren't expecting
27:23
people to be. I was beaten in the to the fly,
27:26
but not my time. So I got the events I wanted to
27:30
do and off we went to the Olympic Games.
27:32
Olympic Games, qualified to the fly final, became 6.
27:37
Not happy. I was thinking that I might OK
27:41
third the year before the World Championships, thought I might
27:45
be in a better shout, but they all went 159 and I went 2:01.
27:49
So the race was on the different type of the poll and I misjudged
27:54
my race. I didn't have much left at the
27:57
end of it. But if you go out a little bit,
27:59
yeah, it's all about balance. And then we made the opportunity
28:05
for three SEL final. We finaled in that and we got a
28:08
bronze medal. And what what stands out for you
28:12
for looking back on that? What?
28:14
What memory? 4/3 of the mates jumping up and
28:18
down in the changing room going we did it.
28:22
Three of them were there. The year before we had a new guy
28:24
called David Dunn. He's his first ever
28:26
international and he swam in Olympic heat in the morning,
28:30
Olympic final medal in the afternoon.
28:32
And no, nobody on marijuana this time, but.
28:35
I we still talk on Facebook and it's hard to explain to people,
28:41
but there's a certain commodity that doesn't go away.
28:45
And then day half we beat East Germany, West Germany that day,
28:49
the day after we swim against East Germany, West Germany
28:52
again. I get it right, West Germany
28:53
again. And then medley relay, we lose
28:56
by .1 to the day, but we've been by .1 the day before.
29:00
So as well as things I then retired 77, I got married and I
29:05
got a job at Stowe school for two and a bit years, which was
29:09
finished off my education well, well off and really made me grow
29:15
up very quickly. I think in a strange way.
29:18
But it's, it's just I, I, I left home in in 72, worked at
29:23
Bedford. I hadn't lived at home and
29:25
searched for an awful long time in 74.
29:28
The Commonwealth Games were in January, by the way, and I
29:31
didn't have a Christmas dinner because I was training.
29:33
I'll be trained on Christmas Day twice.
29:36
Didn't have a Christmas dinner, had a like some food but not the
29:40
Christmas meal because it's too. Much with all the trimmings.
29:43
That looks like it still hurts. No, it doesn't because Byrne and
29:47
Matthews heard about it and sent me a Turkey when I came home for
29:53
me and my family to share my I know my mum did all the
29:57
correspondence, but they do me. I'm just sitting there thinking
30:00
I couldn't believe it. I we this huge, but I don't know
30:03
how she got in the in the the cooker, but we all sat down.
30:06
I I've got two older sisters. I did have unfortunately, Anne's
30:09
passed away. Dawn, who's coming up 80 and
30:12
who's I said passed away myself. They, the older 2 girls both got
30:16
husbands, one or two children, my mum, my dad, me and and Jan
30:20
all sat down to a Turkey meal. Courtesy of Bernard Matthews.
30:25
And when was that Christmas meal?
30:27
It was in February time. It's hard to well, because by
30:32
the time you come back, yeah, it's, it's hard to explain, but
30:36
we used to train up to middle August is when you had major
30:39
competitions. We then used to take a break and
30:43
you've heard about people now taking a, a, a rest away.
30:46
Well, we used training started, that was the 1st of September.
30:50
We then you can go in and do an odd session, but if you go in,
30:53
you've got to train properly. You know this Nigel, because you
30:57
were one of my swimmers. If you're going to get an award
30:59
and you train properly, if you don't want to do the session,
31:01
don't do it. So we had to go and train.
31:03
But 1st of October every year training started and because I
31:09
did a range of events, Charlie and I sat down and worked out
31:13
what events I might or not might not want to do.
31:16
And in from 71 through to me retiring in 77, I won 49
31:24
national titles, three in a relay, 4 by 100 freestyle relay
31:28
and the rest were all individual split, short course or long
31:32
course. It's it's just one of the things
31:35
you do do. You remembered all this without
31:38
a script. Just to put this in context,
31:40
this is like you're you're reeling this off.
31:43
Unlike You've got it just there. It's incredible.
31:47
Nigel knows my memory. I can.
31:49
I don't. I can't remember Nigel.
31:51
I think about 1-11 hundred backstroke and Nigel, yeah.
31:54
1110, but I'll let you. Oh wow, every second counts.
31:58
I was, I was taught that by Nevada and by CC was did an
32:03
awful lot of education and Nevada was a South African
32:06
Nevada cross. And he said, if you're going to
32:09
do things, remember doing them. It's going to sound terrible.
32:13
My wife, we're having a a celebration shortly.
32:16
My wife has a special birthday next Friday.
32:19
And we're just going through some pictures and we talk about
32:23
this celebration of 50 years since Montreal.
32:26
I do lots of things and support lots of people about swimming.
32:30
It's hard to explain, but yeah, it was the IT was the best time
32:34
of my life. But I remember you swimming,
32:38
you're a chopper out wide, so it's strange.
32:41
And also do taught educationally.
32:45
I did swimming teachers, level 1, level 2 coaches and as head
32:49
coach I've been doing some mentoring as well.
32:54
And I also worked in further education for 23 years.
32:56
So I've had a variety of experiences which are fantastic.
33:04
But my medal counter the major games is 13, six of the
33:08
Commonwealth Games, two of the European Games, four of the
33:13
World Championships and Olympic gold and Olympic gold of bronze.
33:20
Also, I've got an MBA, my grandchildren.
33:23
I live, I live with my, my, my daughter and five grandchildren.
33:27
They, they, they saw me doing an interview for a lady called
33:34
Helen Gorman. She does a podcast about masters
33:36
or whatever and they said what's what's granddad doing that?
33:42
They have one or two got a concept of what's going on.
33:46
One or two haven't. The young ones haven't.
33:48
It's trying to. I am me.
33:51
I enjoy being me. I have special members, but
33:55
they're my memories. I'm just starting to try and put
33:59
my story together. It's just called my story.
34:02
All I've done is trying to relate facts across the
34:04
timeline, but there are stories within those stories, yeah.
34:08
Amazing stories, yeah, the amazing stories they are with
34:11
unfortunately we've got to go for some more ads.
34:13
But when we come back, I want to talk to you about Fast forward
34:16
and then to after your career to 85, I think it was when you came
34:20
into Peterborough to cops and and started coaching and that's
34:25
that's another story. We'll go to some ads and then
34:28
we'll be back with Brian right after this.
34:31
You're listening to PCR sports. OK, welcome back.
34:45
We're here in the studio with Brian Brinkley, Olympian, World
34:50
Championship swimmer and MBE, of course.
34:53
OK, we've we're up to 1985. Then Brian and you, you came to
34:56
Peter. We were asked by the council to
34:59
really progress competitive swimming in Peterborough and
35:02
you, you, you develop the the competitive side of it over at
35:06
the regional pool, a time that I really, really remember well.
35:10
How, how did you, how did you get over that transition?
35:14
A lots of sports people when they stop playing sport, they
35:17
find it really hard to transition into something else.
35:19
How was coaching for you? Was that something you really
35:21
wanted to? Do something I wanted to do.
35:23
Remember I worked to Stoke school for a bit as swimming
35:25
coach when the when the swimming pool versus the bits and pieces.
35:29
I then went to Warrington Warriors of Warrington for six
35:32
years. Absolutely fantastic experience.
35:35
I then got the opportunity of applying for a job down at
35:38
Peterborough with Peterborough Regional Council.
35:41
Got the job in 1985. I think I came June the 1st with
35:46
the opportunity of looking at the pool and looking at the Lens
35:51
swim program. I firstly, I revamped the Lens
35:55
Swim program because it was a good programme, but then they
36:00
weren't doing exactly mine. We revamped it and we expanded
36:03
it five times. It was done under the term city
36:06
swim. They had a booklet, various
36:08
grades that you could do very similar to the national plan for
36:11
teaching that is there now for everybody.
36:15
And then September the 1st we, oh, September the 1st or
36:18
October, September the 1st, we started the coaching programme
36:23
both there and at Jack Hunt on Jack Hunt on a Wednesday night.
36:27
The rest of the time, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday,
36:33
Sunday at the regional poll, Yeah, Sunday night at the
36:36
regional poll was, you know, 6:00 to 9:00 was.
36:39
We just got in there and got on with it.
36:41
You developed different squads, didn't you?
36:43
So there was the, the a, a, the top.
36:45
There was the a a that were the major focus and then the other
36:50
people coming along, one of the coaches that you probably
36:54
remember is Brian Anthony unfortunately passed away.
36:58
Great sadness. We had other coaches along the
37:01
line as well. We we did what we could do.
37:05
And then of course in 94, I became a Pol tax cut and I got
37:11
the job working independently. I have to say this which I did
37:18
in 94, I started working at Peterborough Regional College
37:21
lecturing sport, leisure in travel and tourism and ITC many
37:26
years ago and did that until 99, then moved on.
37:31
The the the squads moved on quite well and I think 1990
37:35
might be around that era. We had the first people getting
37:39
junior internationals. We'd never get a seniors because
37:43
we don't, there's no academia for them to travel.
37:46
So they were, and I mean Stephen Mabin went to Loughborough and
37:51
you've got Neil Sloane went up to Nottingham.
37:54
One or two, I mean. Michael Porter, I think it was
37:57
another name I remember who. Porter moved away from us to go
38:00
down to Kelly College because whatever and then it all moved
38:04
on. Next generation have got to come
38:08
up and go into I mean, there were so many good girls, so many
38:12
good boys. Be careful.
38:15
I mean, I think the last last bit before I, as I left the
38:20
county championships, there was a girl Reece, who went 66400
38:27
backstroke at 6:15 or 16. Fantastic talent.
38:32
Well, you were able to kick on or not.
38:34
It's, I mean, I never made people turn up to train twice a
38:38
day. I'd love you to be there to
38:41
train to us today. If you didn't come, I'm not
38:43
going to. You can take all some wood.
38:44
You can't make it train. You.
38:46
You were certainly an inspiration because you made me
38:49
turn up twice a day. Sometimes I think it was Monday,
38:54
Wednesday and Friday. You did Nigel, you didn't do a
38:56
lot. But it's just one of those
38:58
things. I mean, my, my, my children got
39:00
involved. Tom got involved, picked up a
39:02
medal in the stage groups to freestyle, Becky got involved,
39:06
my daughter open water. Yeah, everything is is relative.
39:10
I mean, I enjoyed every minute of my time coaching.
39:14
However, when you get to I got to 60, I, I was back to my
39:22
journey is coaching there for a bit.
39:24
I gave up in 2010 because I was finding the workload of going,
39:29
working in Hackney in London, coaching at night and then
39:32
coming home. It's just getting a little bit
39:33
edgy. And of course, I had the touch
39:36
of prostate cancer, so I had to have some treatment.
39:39
But going on to what you got coming up, I just hope that I
39:44
would have thought they might have built next to the Lido to
39:47
consolidate the swimming environment into one area.
39:51
But that's I've not been asked. I've not been asked for any
39:54
guidance or whatever. I am old school.
39:57
I'm 13 years away from everybody.
40:01
What they want to do now is what they want to do.
40:03
It's not. Yeah, everybody needs to work
40:06
out what they wish to do and where they want to do it.
40:08
In, in your view, they're really interested in your, your views
40:12
on this. I think the proposals and what's
40:13
been agreed for Peterborough is an 8 lane 25 metre pool.
40:18
I think there's some financial decisions around that decision
40:24
and and plans being put in is in your opinion is, is that what
40:29
Peterborough need to push on for a a professional swimmer,
40:32
somebody who's really talented, who's going to stay in the city?
40:36
The the answer is you can train short course, you can change to
40:38
25 meter. Personally I remember many years
40:41
ago a guy called Normas Arsenal said eight lane, 25 meter pool,
40:45
4 lanes of training, 4 lanes for the public.
40:48
You have a separate teaching pool which is 4 lanes, 25
40:51
meters, preferably hydraulic, so you can go down, so you can have
40:56
diving going into it and also synchronized swimming.
41:00
When you were with me in the mornings, we used to have the
41:04
synchronized swimmers come in and they used to do synchronized
41:07
swimming, which I thought was fantastic.
41:10
It's the only thing we've never really seen here in Peterborough
41:14
is diving. When we try to set it up, it's
41:17
never gone off. One of the highlights you
41:21
probably won't remember was Lynn Tetley.
41:24
We talked just briefly earlier that you know Chris Allen who
41:26
unfortunately passed away, Lynn who was the first diabetic
41:29
swimmer. Channel OK.
41:31
The year after Chris said oh why do we do it as a relay?
41:34
So Brian, would you like to organise it?
41:37
Yeah well along with Chris we organised it.
41:39
We did it quite successfully. 2 years later we just a swimming
41:43
taken off gone forward. Chris had to organise that one
41:46
by himself. It was successful, but you know
41:49
what, not my, not my problem that time I had to do it.
41:52
But it's like me saying to you, you've you've got to look at
41:55
what your water space is, what you want to do with it, where
41:59
you're going to get the best pack for it.
42:01
Every swimming pool loses money. It's never going to make money
42:06
because of the heat. You've got to put in it all the
42:07
rest of it. I just hope they look at how
42:11
they heat the venue, solar panels, wind farms, durmal bits
42:17
or whatever to get the technology to be able to keep it
42:22
at the right temperature. The right temperature for
42:24
swimmers. Competitive swimmers 78 Right
42:28
temperature for public, 8081. And that's, that's the difficult
42:34
thing. Is it creating that balance
42:35
between a leisure hub, which you need to bring in the money and a
42:39
competitive swimming environment?
42:41
If it's too warm, it feels like if you're a swimmer, it feels
42:44
like you're swimming through treacle.
42:45
Absolutely. Yeah, And if it's too cold, you
42:48
think where's the ice cubes? But it's it's it's like no
42:52
matter what you do, you're in a situation.
42:54
The other thing is, do we need a spectator gallery or do we have
42:59
pull out bleachers? I would have pull out bleachers
43:04
so that space could be used for sleep girls as well.
43:06
But it's all about health and safety.
43:09
All the rest of it, what they perceive they wish to do with
43:11
the facility. When I first came here, the
43:13
swimming pool, the regional pool had slipper baths.
43:18
Remember the old slipper bars used to be down by the museum.
43:21
Well, they got moved, they got changed into their I don't think
43:23
anybody ever used them, but that was, you know, the slipper bars
43:29
hot was one of the things, but swimming and Peter were is, you
43:33
know, the coke plants. She's doing well, but they're
43:35
all over the place, Aldo, they're going finding water
43:38
wherever they can. Which we'll see, but also
43:41
Whittlesey is going to go through some development of its
43:43
own later on this year as well. So again, that'll be a an issue
43:47
for cops in terms of hosting attending meetings in this local
43:52
area. Well, something's changed, the
43:53
law flock, because there's now more.
43:55
No more open meets you'd go to. Designated meets you'd go to in
43:59
our area, there used to be swimming guards you go to on a
44:02
coach, you learn how to socialise, how to eat properly
44:06
and then do the rest of it. That's all gone because the cost
44:10
of coaches and the rest of it, it's now open meets.
44:12
You travel there, you travel back in your own car, which is
44:16
fine, but it's taken away the opportunity for the people that
44:19
are have less money. You might be able to afford a
44:26
coach, but you can't afford a car.
44:28
Indeed, And you're relying on parents, family to take you to
44:32
those coaching sessions and those open meets.
44:34
As you say as well all the time and that's that's frustrating,
44:37
but it's I I'm pleased I've retired from that.
44:41
I, I enjoy being granddad, pulling my daughter sometimes
44:46
grumpy granddad, but we've got an 18 year old granddaughter's
44:50
doing a levels. You got a 16 year old doing
44:52
GCC's at the puzzle woman in the house and I'm grumpy.
44:56
Have they got an interest in swimming?
44:57
Have they taken anything up? No, they can all swim.
45:00
Yeah, but no, no, no, not at all.
45:03
In the early days, they did Taekwondo.
45:05
The two older girls aged to 60, other black belts.
45:09
The the boy who's 14 was red. I think the next down is twin.
45:19
He did his first belt. I think he's a yellow, but Queen
45:24
has issues and that is a remarkable thing for him to be
45:28
able to do. They no longer do it because
45:30
their energy moves on somewhere else, as yours, this and mine
45:33
did. Yeah.
45:34
You can't move it on. Just serves around a long time.
45:37
Listen, Brian, it's been fascinating.
45:39
It's brilliant to catch up with you again.
45:41
And I think we could, we could do at least another hour.
45:44
We'll have to have you back sometime.
45:46
But thank you so much for this evening.
45:48
It's. A pleasure.
45:49
Absolutely fascinating. You can always contact me and we
45:52
can do it by zoom or something. Brilliant.
45:55
We'll we'll get you on our YouTube channel for sure and
45:57
we'll we'll pick up the conversation.
46:01
So this is has been Peterborough.
46:03
Sorry, PCR sports, they've lost my words now.
46:07
Great show tonight. Please join us next week same
46:10
time at 6:00 PM and we'll be talking to some Edwards next
46:16
week who has been selected for the Great Britain deaf football
46:19
team for the European Championships.
46:22
So join us at 6:00 next Friday. Thank you for listening.
46:24
Bye bye.